DEFENDING MY HONOR.

DEFENDING MY HONOR. The old saying goes that one should never get in a fight with a man who buys ink by the barrel. One might say the same about a man whose radio show is carried on 600 stations. But this will not stand:

Limbaugh then attacked Media Matters Senior Fellow Paul Waldman, who appeared on the Today and Scarborough segments: "The hack is presented as an expert. The Media Matters guy is an all-knowing expert. Nobody's ever heard of him; he's never accomplished anything. He's just a hack working for a front group for the Democrat [sic] Party, and they know this, yet they continue to do this." He asserted: "They know, Dan Abrams knows, and so does everybody else at NBC and CNN, that Media Matters is a [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY], George Soros, DNC front group." As notedrepeatedly, Media Matters -- which is not affiliated with any political party or candidate -- has never received funding from Soros, either directly or indirectly. Limbaugh also falsely claimed that Waldman characterized him as him as a "pig" in his comments on Scarborough Country about the song parody. In fact, Waldman made no such comments about Limbaugh.

Hackdom, of course, is not easily defined, though I'd like to think I don't qualify. But as for Rush's contention that I've "never accomplished anything," that is an unconscionable slander, and I must object in the strongest possible terms.

Allow me to list some of my recent accomplishments:

Last weekend I disposed of a dead possum I found rotting in my back yard, without retching.

Just last night, I removed and lubricated the rear hub of my son's bike. After reassembly, the bike was intact, with all parts accounted for and, apparently, still operating.

Not long ago, I successfully completed the 621 steps necessary to obtain the rebate on my cell phone.

About the Author

Paul Waldman is a weekly columnist and senior writer for The American Prospect. He also writes for the Plum Line blog at The Washington Post and The Week and is the author of Being Right is Not Enough: What Progressives Must Learn From Conservative Success.